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BrightFarms Launches Multimillion-Dollar R&D Hub in Greater Cincinnati
BrightFarms, a New York-based grower of indoor leafy greens since 2013, is forming BrightLabs, a new innovation and research hub, at its Wilmington greenhouse. BrightLabs, overall, will represent a tenfold increase in the company’s research capabilities, while increasing profitability and delivering new product innovations.
By Liz Engel - Staff reporter
June 24, 2021
An indoor farming company is investing millions in Ohio with the debut of a new research and development hub.
BrightFarms, a New York-based grower of indoor leafy greens since 2013, is forming BrightLabs, a new innovation and research hub, at its Wilmington greenhouse. BrightLabs, overall, will represent a tenfold increase in the company’s research capabilities, while increasing profitability and delivering new product innovations.
Steve Platt is the CEO of BrightFarms. (Jenn Erickson)
CEO Steve Platt declined to disclose the exact investment but told me it’s in the multimillions. The project is being launched as part of the company’s $100 million Series E funding round in October led by media conglomerate Cox Enterprises.
“BrightFarms as a company has been growing very consistently, and the indoor farming industry is at an inflection point,” Platt said. “We’ve perfected how we grow – among competitors, we’ve developed the most profitable model for the production of indoor leafy greens – but now’s the time to invest behind R&D to secure an advantage for the future. It’s essential to stay ahead of the curve.”
Like others in the indoor farming space, BrightFarms lauds the fact that its lettuce is healthier, tastier, looks better, is more nutritious, and, particularly for customers in Ohio, fresher than field-grown produce hauled in from states like California and Arizona. Today the company’s five greenhouses in Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania produce 9 million pounds of produce each year.
But unlike several outfits, particularly vertical farms that use purple-hued LED lighting, BrightFarms leverages natural sunshine. Its souped up, high-tech greenhouses grow spinach, romaine, arugula and more using a hydroponic system, or water instead of soil.
Wilmington, which celebrated its first harvest in 2018, isn’t the company’s largest greenhouse in terms of size or production, but Platt said it made a good host for the innovation hub because of its centralized location. It’s close to customers and easily accessible from its other farms. He also credited the workforce and level of academic talent available from universities nearby.
BrightFarms celebrated its first harvest in Wilmington in 2018. BrightLabs is investing millions to build out an innovation and research hub at the site. (Brian Mollenkopf)
Phase one for BrightLabs includes a new, approximately 1,350 square foot lab that has been built at the Wilmington greenhouse site. BrightFarms will also dedicate space on the farm for the BrightLabs team to work.
Platt said BrightLabs will focus on three key areas:
Biotech. BrightFarms wants to study the environments in which plants grow to increase yield, flavor, and texture.
Agtech. BrightOS, the company’s proprietary AI software system, acts as the company’s central nervous system, Platt said, collecting millions of data points from its fives farms to streamline operations. How can the company improve that technology?
Product innovation. BrightFarms recently launched NutriGreens, a new lettuce packed with antioxidants – double the amount, Platt said, found in a serving of blueberries. BrightFarms wants more advances like that.
BrightLabs itself will be led by Matt Lingard, a former Bayer plant scientist and Ph.D. with over 15 years of experience, who joined BrightFarms in May as its VP of agriculture and science. Platt said the BrightLabs team will include four employees to start.
“We’re the leading grower of indoor spinach – in the U.S. we grow 90% of the indoor spinach that’s sold – but we want to double our production on that. How do we come out with new types of spinach that can grow even better in a hydroponic system?” he said.
“We’re taking on a massive industry and a complicated, broken system – where greens are grown all in one location, shipped thousands of miles across the country, generally with pesticide reside, there’s a food-borne illness, and the product isn’t that good,” Platt added. “We have a simpler system and a better product, but we need to deliver that at a price point and at a volume that competes with what’s coming out of California. If we’re trying to unseat this big gorilla, we can’t be this niche that’s only affordable to people who drive Teslas.”
Overall, there’s billions being invested in the industry. New York City-based Bowery Farming, in late May, announced a $300 million funding round with a $2.3 billion valuation. Kentucky-based AppHarvest merged with a special purpose acquisition company in February, an IPO approach that’s gaining ground in 2021, and is now worth $1.5 billion.
BrightFarms, with its Series E, has raised more than $200 million in total. In addition to launching BrightLabs, it plans to use the funds to expand its network of regional indoor farms – new farms are currently under development in Massachusetts and Texas – and grow its retail footprint. Locally, BrightFarms is available at Sam’s Club, Walmart and Pipkin Produce as well as Food Lion and Kroger in other markets.
The company said by the end of 2021 its leafy greens will be available at over 3,500 stores.
“It’s amazing. Even when I joined the company two years ago, we were convincing people this was the future. Now customers are coming to us saying, ‘We want to replace field grown with indoor-grown,’” he said. “We think the future is here.”
Lead photo: BrightFarms grows leafy greens like spinach, romaine, and arugula in high-tech, computer-controlled greenhouses.
Highlighting The Potential of Dutch Horticulture In Vertical Farming
Indoor Farming Holland aims to bring companies together to see where their knowledge can be developed and applied in the vertical farming space. “We’re focusing on the combination of technical solutions with plant science, where Holland has a great proposition.”
“The Dutch are falling behind when it comes to vertical farming,” says Judith van Heck, Community Builder at Indoor Farming Nederland. “As we’re so tremendously good at greenhouse growing there is relatively less interest in building vertical farms in the Netherlands. In comparison to countries such as the US, this has resulted in lower investments. That’s why we started the initiative Indoor Farming Nederland. We want to help the Dutch horticulture sector to develop the potentially very interesting sector, and we also want to highlight the international potential of Dutch horticulture in vertical farming.”
Indoor Farming Holland aims to bring companies together to see where their knowledge can be developed and applied in the vertical farming space. “We’re focusing on the combination of technical solutions with plant science, where Holland has a great proposition. We, therefore, believe that we can obtain optimal results from vertical farms and take the lead on that,” Judith notes.
“Due to many things happening around vertical farming and innovative solutions that are brought to market, we’ve created a government-backed organization to stimulate indoor farming amongst Dutch horticultural companies,” says Gus van der Feltz, project leader for the Fieldlab Vertical Farming. In the Fieldlab Vertical Farming, an important collaboration is established between South Holland knowledge institutions and companies that are engaged in the production of vertically grown products, the sale of vertically grown products, and suppliers of technologies for vertical farms.
Gus van der Feltz and Judith van Heck
Increasing awareness
The Fieldlab is supported by the European Fund for Regional Development of the European Union and the Province of South Holland. Now, the organization’s activities consist of four different ‘packages’ which they’d like to elaborate on throughout the Dutch horticulture industry. Vertical Farming Zuid-Holland received a subsidy to develop a foundation for potential market entrants that consists of four different packages.
The Fieldlab, working together with Indoor Farming Nederland, wants to increase awareness of the added value of vertical farming. Firstly, by using market research to understand consumers, growers, retailers, and the supply chain’s perspective on vertical farming. “Through market research, we want to highlight the benefits and processes that could be improved,” says Gus. Secondly, the organization will do research and testing to generate knowledge on vertical farming and recipes through development and innovations by Dutch horticulture companies.
Thirdly, “we want to educate and train people,” says Gus. “We’re working on developing training programs specifically focusing on vertical farming. From the technical side of things to running a farm and selling your produce successfully.” Last but not least, a sector-related platform is to be constructed to create a long-term and sustainable network the industry can fall back to. In collaboration with Vertical Farming Fieldlab, for the industry to further develop knowledge in Dutch horticulture, the organization consists of multiple companies, such as Own Greens, Delphy, Signify, WUR Bleiswijk, Vertify, Logiqs, Proeftuin Westland, InHolland, WUR Wageningen, Future Crops (Poeldijk).
Judith explains that the community works with jointly formulated ambitions. “We help this cluster of companies to obtain as much knowledge as needed. We stimulate them to co-create on several challenges. One of the ambitions is to communicate the potential of the cluster and indoor farming products to various target groups. Amongst other things, we are creating a white paper regarding the general statements about vertical farming and the complex reality of it.” Next to that, the organization is exploring the feasibility of a collective market intelligence tool to see where vertical farming can add value internationally. However, the community aims to not only help Dutch entrepreneurs but the collective market. One of the ambitions, for instance, is to communicate the potential of the cluster to various target groups within, but especially also outside, the Netherlands.
Amongst other things, Indoor Farming Nederland will create a whitepaper that states all facts concerning vertical farming. Next to that, the organization is exploring the feasibility of a collective market intelligence tool to see where vertical farming can add value internationally. They’re doing so by looking at climate, population density, food patterns, availability of water, and energy. Also by analyzing where the most potential is for vertical farming, or hybrid solutions even, in combination with greenhouses.
For more information:
Indoor Farming Nederland
Gus van der Feltz, Project leader
gus@feltzwerk.nl
Judith van Heck, Community Builder
judith@imagro.nl
Publication date: Wed 16 Jun 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com
RotoGro (ASX:RGI) Updates Market On Vertical Farming Tech
The RotoGro Garden System is the core of the company's technology with the ability to maximize plant surface growing area by situating a spherical garden around a centrally placed lighting system
Source: RotoGro
RotoGro (RGI) provides an update of its vertical farming technology with encouraging results from recent trials
The company says recent data indicates its garden systems produce more yield per square meter when compared to other indoor vertical farming methods
Further, trials of RotoGro 710 are said to be progressing well and the team is trialing how to further reduce water and energy usage
RGI is also encouraged by its studies and customer feedback for its RotoGro 420 system which it says validates commercial-scale cultivation of lawful cannabis
Shares were trading 2.3 percent higher at 4.4 cents apiece
RotoGro designs and manufactures cultivation solutions for indoor vertical farming, operating in perishable foods and lawful cannabis.
The RotoGro Garden System is the core of the company's technology with the ability to maximize plant surface growing area by situating a spherical garden around a centrally placed lighting system.
The systems can be stacked, maximizing the yields per square meter when compared to the ground space occupied.
RGI said data collected from recent crop trials conducted in collaboration with agriculture company Verity Greens and herb grower and distributor Fresh Leaf indicates its garden systems produce more yield per square meter when compared to other indoor vertical farming methods.
Specifically, RotoGro projects yields 3.8 to 15.3 times the yield per square meter compared to industry-leading farming producers and greater in contrast to greenhouse and conventional farming.
CEO Michael Di Tommaso said ventures like the ones with Verity Greens and Fresh Leaf will "strengthen RotoGro’s market presence by successfully penetrating the burgeoning indoor vertical farming industry with its technology offerings".
Further, internal trials of the company's most recently developed garden system, the RotoGro 710, are said to be progressing well with cultivation of 48 kilograms of basil and 26.5 kilograms of cilantro in a single harvest cycle.
After multiple trials cultivating leafy greens, the agronomy team repeatedly achieved yields of 124 kilograms in a fully planted RotoGro 710, indicating single harvest yields of 372 kilograms could be achieved when the technology is at full capacity, stacked three-high.
The team is trialing shorter full crop cycle lengths while maintaining yields and aims to refine the plant irrigation schedules to further minimize water usage and refine the environmental controls to ensure enhanced energy efficiencies.
In other news, RotoGro has enabled full automation of its lawful cannabis cultivator, RotoGro 420.
The company's software controls the wheel revolution speed, lighting cycles, and spectrum variations, direct CO2 injection as well as the plant irrigation processes and environmental controls including temperature, air conditioning, and humidification.
Notably, the 420-garden system has been able to consistently produce 10.2 kilograms of dried cannabis flower in a single 56-day crop cycle when stacked three-high.
RGI said its studies in combination with its customer’s data validates the commercial viability of RotoGro 420 in the commercial-scale cultivation of lawful
cannabis.
Mr Di Tommaso said RotoGro is continuing to develop relationships globally to expand its presence in both the perishable foods and lawful cannabis markets.
Shares were trading 2.3 percent higher at 4.4 cents apiece at 1:31 pm AEST.
SpaceFarms Successfully Trialed With Grapes, Now Opts Almonds And Tomatoes
When Tusya first heard about vertical farming, she imagined a new generation of high-tech farming in Georgia. “I was fascinated when I heard about the possibilities of growing crops indoors in urban areas. Unfortunately, there’s little agricultural production in Georgia and lots of produce is imported from other countries.”
Introducing vertical farming to Georgia
Georgian vertical farming company SpaceFarms their product portfolio contains many different products such as salad greens, microgreens, herbs, and edible flowers. However, the company isn’t limiting itself to (leafy) greens only. “We’ve already grown three different grape varieties indoors because it’s a product we’re proud of here,” says Tusya Gharibashvili, Project author, and CEO. Tusya explains that Georgia is quite famous for its wine and its first wine was discovered 8000 years ago, research showed.
When Tusya first heard about vertical farming, she imagined a new generation of high-tech farming in Georgia. “I was fascinated when I heard about the possibilities of growing crops indoors in urban areas. Unfortunately, there’s little agricultural production in Georgia and lots of produce is imported from other countries.”
Crop trials
It’s important to us that we know how to enable grape cultivation indoors. Tusya noted they’re using cocopeat for the roots, and the results are promising thus far. “It gave us so much validation because we put so much effort into this and hopefully by rolling out more and more products, it will become more familiar to the Georgian (agri)culture,” Tusya affirms. Next to grapes, they’ve experimented with tomatoes and almond seedlings in a one-layer cultivar.
“We are now conducting strawberry trials so we still have supplied during the winter period. We’re constantly looking at opportunities for new crops to grow in our farm. We think it’s important to make people aware of the possibilities of growing in urban areas. We started experimenting with different crops in order to set the right growing parameters were.”
In 2017, Tusya started to dive into the concept of urban farming, together with her partner. Their first production facility comprised a 15 m2 cultivation area where various microgreens were grown. Produce was delivered to restaurants and other organizations in the catering sector. “It was something completely new for everyone and people were amazed by the concept of growing indoors.”
Government backing
After the initial success, Tusya started to follow up on more research in indoor vertical farming when she stumbled upon container growing. “After writing a motivation plan, I presented my ideas to Georgian investor to Mr. Temuri Ugulava the founder and the main driving force behind Adjara Group, decided to give it a try,” says Tusya.
At first, she started production inside a former Sovjet printing press building, now the award-winning Stamba Hotel., in order to supply fresh greens for the entire building. This was the first indoor farm space in Georgia. We had quite a tough time there, but with the help and support of Adjara Group, we made it through the first year.”
Nowadays, Space Farms produces 5000 plants per month and 30-kilo Microgreens in a 150m2 area, using seven layers. We grow our greens in the most efficient way possible. SpaceFarms applies 75% less water than traditional farming. Don’t use pesticides, using disruptive technologies, we fully control the environment (light intensity, nutrient intake, humidity, carbon dioxide emissions, and temperature) to yield optimal plant growth. Regardless of the season, we’re able to deliver fresh micro and leafy greens.
“It’s such a small effort, and yet such a big step towards sustainability. CEA growing is a great innovation that I think will change lots of the meaning of agriculture in combination with modern technology,” says Tusya.
Introducing modern agriculture
Space Farms collaborates with students from the University of Agriculture. The students are introduced to hands-on learning on the farm, from sowing to harvesting. Tusya says, “It’s a unique opportunity to have these students working on our farm, so they can get familiar with this new type of agriculture. In this way, we’re hoping to increase awareness on vertical farming throughout the country and eventually to neighboring countries.”
Next to running a farm, Spacefarms also working on a new project SpaceFarms spot, a farm growing kit that can be applied in any room. It’s the size of a fridge, which allows consumers or businesses to grow their own greens on location. “This will be something completely new in Georgia, so we hope to make a lasting impact. We might be a small country, but we can do big things with the help of technology. We’re backed by several programs from which we’ve received funding so we can further develop our Farm Pods,” adds Tusya.
Space Farms has received support from several programs. The programs are focusing on innovation and women in agriculture.
Lead photo: Tusya Gharibashvili
For more information:
Tusya Gharibashvili, Project author, and CEO Space Farms
1 Jun 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
SINGAPORE: Green Fingers For GKE As It Moves Into Indoor Farming Obtains License From SFA
Warehousing and logistics company GKE Corporation, via its wholly-owned subsidiary GKE Agritech, has received its farm license from the Singapore Food Authority to commercialize indoor farming.
Lim Hui Jie
March 30, 2021
Warehousing and logistics company GKE Corporation, via its wholly-owned subsidiary GKE Agritech, has received its farm license from the Singapore Food Authority to commercialize indoor farming.
The receipt of the farm license allows GKE Agritech to grow and sell its produce commercially in Singapore.
In a press release on Mar 30, GKE explained that with consumers becoming increasingly aware of healthy living, there is a higher demand for better quality and higher nutritional value produce.
This, together with Singapore’s dependence on imported food, motivated it to broaden its businesses into agriculture, it said.
GKE took into account, among others, that its strategic investment in GKE Agritech would enable it to achieve better utilization of its office premises and to align with the Singapore Government’s initiative to produce 30% of the nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.
The company revealed that its unutilized office premise located at 6 Pioneer Walk has since been converted into an indoor farm, and has obtained approvals from all relevant authorities to grow vegetables indoors.
It added it has adopted the controlled-environment agriculture approach, where automation and sensors are deployed to provide protection and maintain optimal growing conditions throughout the development of the crop.
GKE then said the initial focus of GKE Agritech is to grow kale as its key product for local consumption and believes that indoor cultivation of kale will provide consistency in the quality and quantity of pesticide-free vegetables,
Neo Cheow Hui, CEO and Executive Director of GKE explained that the kale is cultivated indoors vertically via a racking system, which allows the company to enjoy higher utilization of the office space.
Furthermore, Neo said the current cultivation area for kale is about 2,400 square feet, and with the farm license, the company is looking to increase the cultivation area gradually to 12,500 square feet.
As the business of GKE Agritech is still at an early stage, GKE does not expect this to have any material contribution to the Group in the current financial year ending 31 May 2021, and said it will update shareholders on material developments as and when they arise.
Underground Agriculture In London Is Gearing Up
By 2022, Growing Underground aims to produce 60 metric tons of vegetables across an area of 528 square meters. That should be enough for 10,000 households and is 12x more than what is produced on a regular farm
Growing Underground In London Is One
of The Largest Underground Vertical Farms
In the World That is Controlled Entirely
By A Digital Twin At The University of Cambridge.
29 March 2021
All the good things an old World War II bunker can bring, right? Thirty meters below ground, near the London New Covent Garden food market, two entrepreneurs have been working together for several years with the British University of Cambridge on an underground farm that has great ambitions.
Their intention is not only to significantly increase production on-site over the coming years. The project also serves as an example for the whole world, according to co-founder Richard Ballard,
By 2022, Growing Underground aims to produce 60 metric tons of vegetables across an area of 528 square meters. That should be enough for 10,000 households and is 12x more than what is produced on a regular farm.
Energy and water
Vegetable cultivation takes place without soil, as the plants thrive on a kind of ‘woolen carpet’ that uses very little water. “70% less than on a conventional farm,” claims Growing Underground. Energy consumption is also low due to the great depth – which ensures few temperature fluctuations – and thanks to the energy-efficient LED lighting.
Nevertheless, energy is the one thing that still stands in the way of a global breakthrough. Ballard: “Vertical agriculture is on the verge of exponential growth due to ever-improving LED technology, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and wireless sensors. But the really big breakthrough will come once more and cheaper renewable energy becomes available that can also be stored.”
Ballard believes vertical agriculture can make a significant contribution to the food problem we undoubtedly have in store as a result of an ever- growing global population. For a techie, the fun part is that it also requires a lot of high-end sensor technology.
Melanie Jans-Singh
A digital twin
There are 25 sensors in the underground farm that constantly track how the plants are doing. E.g., whether something needs to be done with the amount of CO2 in the air, nutrients, temperature, humidity and light. In total, 89 variables are involved. Even the speed at which the plants grow is measured, says researcher Melanie Jans-Singh from the University of Cambridge.
Jans-Singh: “The digital twin provides us with a 3D representation of the situation in London here in Cambridge. That image is even better than if you were there on site yourself. The digital twin can do much more than a human being. It can monitor, learn, give feedback and make predictions. All factors that will help increase productivity.”
A great deal of research into vertical farming is also being done in the Netherlands, such as by the company Plantlab.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maurits Kuypers graduated as a macroeconomist from the University of Amsterdam, specializing in international work. He has been active as a journalist since 1997, first for 10 years on the editorial staff of Het Financieele Dagblad in Amsterdam, then as a freelance correspondent in Berlin and Central Europe. When it comes to technological innovations, he always has an eye for the financial feasibility of a project.
Evaluating Real Estate For Indoor Agriculture
Several factors need to be evaluated before purchasing or leasing a piece of real estate for CEA. Will you build new construction or rehabilitate a vacant building? Are you building a large-scale greenhouse or a small, urban vertical farm?
March 17, 2021
Traditionally, buyers of agricultural real estate have focused on rural land where primary considerations for their farm include things such as soil quality, annual rainfall amounts, and adequate drainage. Increasingly, however, agriculture start-ups are moving indoors. Compared to field-based agriculture, indoor farming allows for more crop cycles, less water usage, and the farms can be located closer to the consumer. The considerations for an indoor, or controlled environment agriculture (CEA) operation are considerably different than for outdoor farms.
Assessing Potential Real Estate for CEA
Several factors need to be evaluated before purchasing or leasing a piece of real estate for CEA. Will you build new construction or rehabilitate a vacant building? Are you building a large-scale greenhouse or a small, urban vertical farm?
Environment
Weather and terrain are important for natural light greenhouse projects. The primary limiting factor to crop production in a greenhouse is low light intensity during the winter so consult with an Ag-extension service or other resource to get that information for a proposed location. Adequate acreage is a must for not only the greenhouses themselves but, also shipping and receiving space, a retention pond (if needed), and potentially even worker housing.
Spacing
For a vertical or urban farm in an enclosed building, important factors to consider include adequate square footage to allow for proper spacing between growing systems and enough room to move the towers (if mobile) for cleaning or maintenance. Additionally, a building should have a sufficient water supply and potentially drainage, a robust HVAC system and humidity controls, and a ceiling which is high enough for the growing towers. Although indoor farms using high efficiency LED lighting, these systems, combined with pumps, humidifiers, and HVACs can use significant amounts of electricity, a developer should carefully and conservatively estimate those costs prior to negotiating those terms with a landlord or electric company. Finally, the farm should be in close enough proximity to allow for routine delivery to local customers, be they restaurants, groceries, farmers markets, or Community Supported Agriculture distributors.
Labor
In both types of farms, labor availability and cost is a critically important consideration. The cost of wages for urban farms, even for unskilled workers, will likely be higher than that of rural areas. And in the case of any real estate development, ensure prior coordination with relevant agencies has been done on permits, licenses, and zoning regulations prior to signing any leases or closing on a land contract. Prior to starting a search for a CEA project, it’s wise to seek expert help from outside consultants who can save an indoor farm developer time, money, and aggravation.
Tags real estate, indoor agriculture, cea
Vertical Farms vs Greenhouses – The First Consideration: Location
When and where to use a vertical farm versus a greenhouse, and what factors – both economic and environmental – make the difference.
In just the past decade or so, sustainable farming has seen a high-tech makeover in the form of Controlled Environment Agriculture, or CEA, which consists of two main technologies: Vertical farms and greenhouses.
When it comes to feeding the world, it’s not a choice between vertical farms or greenhouses. We’ll need both to feed our growing global population with healthy, sustainable food, and we need to understand the ideal situation for each.
But as a business decision, it often is a choice between the two – and that’s what we hope to explain in this five-part series of articles: When and where to use a vertical farm versus a greenhouse, and what factors – both economic and environmental – make the difference.
In this first post, we’ll cover the basic differences between vertical farms and greenhouses, and why location matters so much when deciding between the two. Then stay tuned because, in the next articles, we’ll dive deeper into energy and lighting costs, automation and other expenses, environmental and crop considerations, and finally, the future of farming.
Vertical Farms vs Greenhouses: The Basics
The two technologies are often confused, but there are significant differences between them in resource use, cost, output, and, perhaps most importantly, the ideal locations for each.
Greenhouses are the more traditional technology that you’re probably familiar with: A single layer of crops, planted inside an enclosed space with walls and a ceiling made of glass or plastic to allow natural light in. They’re semi-controlled environments.
Vertical farms, on the other hand, are a much more recent invention using trays of usually hydroponic plants, stacked in floor-to-ceiling towers, with LED lights illuminating each layer, and climate control constantly adjusting the temperature, humidity and more.
In the upcoming articles in this series, we’ll dive into each part of these differences in more detail. But for now, let’s start with the first question entrepreneurs always need answering: The price tag.
Henry Gordon-Smith is the CEO of Agritecture, an independent consultancy and software creator that helps clients decide between the two technologies. As he puts it, “Vertical farming represents the most expensive, most controlled form of agriculture.”
At first blush, vertical farms are, in fact, shockingly more expensive than greenhouses – six to 10 times as costly. Gordon-Smith says vertical farming costs 2,200 to 2,600 Euro per square meter of cultivation bed space, while high-tech greenhouses cost 250 to 350 Euro per square meter of cultivation space.
Both offer a year-round source of fresh, pesticide-free, locally-grown produce, which provides better nutrition than the same foods that arrive from far away.
But what else do farmers, entrepreneurs, and investors get for all the added expense of vertical farming?
The answer is pretty simple: A more compact farm with more production per square meter, less water use, and more control over both quantity and quality. (With iFarm, this predictability is part of the package, in the form of a guaranteed yield within a precise time frame.)
For some entrepreneurs or municipalities, the cachet of implementing a high-tech farming technique that’s only been in use for less than a decade is also a factor in favour of vertical farming. But most often, the choice comes down to location.
The Ideal Location for a Vertical Farm versus a Greenhouse
The first step in determining the feasibility of building a vertical farm or greenhouse is to look at the drivers and constraints – many of which are simply location-based.
Places with limited space, such as dense urban areas, and limited access to fresh water are ideal for vertical farms. Doubly so if they have access to low-cost, renewable energy, and if they’re near a market with high demand for the crops vertical farms excel at producing: Leafy-greens, micro-greens, herbs and berries grown locally, without pesticides.
But in areas with unlimited space, lots of natural sunlight, and high-cost and/or high-carbon electricity, greenhouses may be the better option and the extra expenses of vertical farming might not make sense.
How these considerations apply in broad regions of the world is illustrated below:
Women In CEA
Are you a woman in CEA, or do you know someone who is? Let us know, we love learning about growers who are working to bring fresh, local produce to their communities!
Are you a woman in CEA, or do you know someone who is?
Let us know, we love learning about growers who are working to bring fresh, local produce to their communities!
You can reach us by email at info@amhydro.com,
or by phone at 1.800.458.6543
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Little Leaf Farms Raises $90M to Grow Its Greenhouse Network
Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.
by Jennifer Marston
Image from: Little Leaf Farms
Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.
Little Leaf Farms says the capital is “earmarked” to build new greenhouse sites along the East Coast, where its lettuce is currently available in about 2,500 stores.
The company already operates one 10-acre greenhouse in Devins, Massachusetts. Its facility grows leafy greens using hydroponics and a mixture of sunlight supplemented by LED-powered grow lights. Rainwater captured from the facility’s roof provides most of the water used on the farm.
According to a press release, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its retail sales to $38 million since 2019. And last year, the company bought180 acres of land in Pennsylvania on which to build an additional facility. Still another greenhouse, slated for North Carolina, will serve the Southeast region of the U.S.
Little Leaf Farms joins the likes of Revol Greens, Gotham Greens, AppHarvest, and others in bringing local(ish) greens to a greater percentage of the population. These facilities generally pack and ship their greens on the day of or day after harvesting, and only supply retailers within a certain radius. Little Leaf Farms, for example, currently servers only parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.
The list of regions the company serves will no doubt lengthen as the company builds up its greenhouse network in the coming months.
Indoor Farming Gains Ground Amid Pandemic, Climate Challenges
Investors used to brush off Amin Jadavji’s pitch to buy Elevate Farms’ vertical growing technology and produce stacks of leafy greens indoors with artificial light. Now, indoor farms are positioning themselves as one of the solutions to coronavirus pandemic-induced disruptions to the harvesting, shipping, and sale of food
Investors say urban farming can boost food security despite rising inflation, trade tensions and global food shortages.
Image from: Reuters via AppHarvest
Investors used to brush off Amin Jadavji’s pitch to buy Elevate Farms’ vertical growing technology and produce stacks of leafy greens indoors with artificial light.
“They would say, ‘This is great, but it sounds like a science experiment,'” said Jadavji, CEO of Toronto, Canada-based Elevate.
Now, indoor farms are positioning themselves as one of the solutions to coronavirus pandemic-induced disruptions to the harvesting, shipping, and sale of food.
“It’s helped us change the narrative,” said Jadavji, whose company runs a vertical farm in Ontario, and is building others in New York and New Zealand.
Proponents, including the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), say urban farming increases food security at a time of rising inflation and limited global supplies. North American produce output is concentrated in Mexico and the US southwest, including California, which is prone to wildfires and other severe weather.
Climate-change concerns are also accelerating investments, including by agribusiness giant Bayer AG, into multi-storey vertical farms or greenhouses the size of 50 football fields.
They are enabling small North American companies like Elevate to bolster indoor production and compete with established players BrightFarms, AeroFarms and Plenty, backed by Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos.
But critics question the environmental cost of indoor farms’ high power requirements.
Vertical farms grow leafy greens indoors in stacked layers or on walls of foliage inside of warehouses or shipping containers. They rely on artificial light, temperature control and growing systems with minimal soil that involve water or mist, instead of the vast tracts of land in traditional agriculture.
Image from: Reuters via AppHarvest
Greenhouses can harness the sun’s rays and have lower power requirements. Well-established in Asia and Europe, greenhouses are expanding in North America, using greater automation.
Investments in global indoor farms totalled a record-high $500m in 2020, AgFunder research head Louisa Burwood-Taylor said.
The average investment last year rose sharply, as large players including BrightFarms and Plenty raised fresh capital, she said.
A big funding acceleration lies ahead, after pandemic food disruptions – such as infections among migrant workers that harvest North American produce – raised concerns about supply disruptions, said Joe Crotty, director of corporate finance at accounting firm KPMG, which advises vertical farms and provides investment banking services.
“The real ramp-up is the next three to five years,” Crotty said.
Vegetables grown in vertical farms or greenhouses are still just a fraction of overall production. US sales of food crops grown under cover, including tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, amounted to 358 million kilogrammes (790 million pounds) in 2019, up 50 percent from 2014, according to the USDA.
California’s outdoor head lettuce production alone was nearly four times larger, at 1.3 billion kg (2.9 billion pounds).
Image from: Reuters via AppHarvest
The USDA is seeking members for a new urban agriculture advisory committee to encourage indoor and other emerging farm practices.
Plant Breeding Moves Indoors
Bayer, one of the world’s biggest seed developers, aims to provide the plant technology to expand vertical agriculture. In August, it teamed with Singapore sovereign fund Temasek to create Unfold, a California-based company, with $30m in seed money.
Unfold says it is the first company focused on designing seeds for indoor lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and cucumbers, using Bayer germplasm, a plant’s genetic material, said Chief Executive John Purcell.
Their advances may include, for example, more compact plants and an increased breeding focus on quality, Purcell said.
Unfold hopes to make its first sales by early 2022, targeting existing farms, and startups in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Greenhouses are also expanding, touting higher yields than open-field farming.
AppHarvest, which grows tomatoes in a 60-acre greenhouse in Morehead, Kentucky, broke ground on two more in the state last year. The company aims to operate 12 facilities by 2025.
Its greenhouses are positioned to reach 70 percent of the US population within a day’s drive, giving them a transportation edge over the southwest produce industry, said Chief Executive Jonathan Webb.
“We’re looking to rip the produce industry out of California and Mexico and bring it over here,” Webb said.
Projected global population growth will require a large increase in food production, a tough proposition outdoors given frequent disasters and severe weather, he said.
Image from: Reuters via AppHarvest
New York-based BrightFarms, which runs four greenhouses, positions them near major US cities, said Chief Executive Steve Platt. The company, whose customers include grocers Kroger and Walmart, plans to open its two largest farms this year, in North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Platt expects that within a decade, half of all leafy greens in the US will come from indoor farms, up from less than 10 percent currently.
“It’s a whole wave moving in this direction because the system we have today isn’t set up to feed people across the country,” he said.
‘Crazy, Crazy Things’
But Stan Cox, research scholar for non-profit The Land Institute, is sceptical of vertical farms. They depend on grocery store premiums to offset higher electricity costs for lighting and temperature control, he said.
“The whole reason we have agriculture is to harvest sunlight that’s hitting the earth every day,” he said. “We can get it for free.”
Bruce Bugbee, a professor of environmental plant physiology at Utah State University, has studied space farming for NASA. But he finds power-intensive vertical farming on Earth far-fetched.
“Venture capital goes into all kinds of crazy, crazy things and this is another thing on the list.”
Bugbee estimates that vertical farms use 10 times the energy to produce food as outdoor farms, even factoring in the fuel to truck conventional produce across the country from California.
AeroFarms, operator of one of the world’s largest vertical farms, based in a former New Jersey steel mill, says comparing energy use with outdoor agriculture is not straightforward. Produce that ships long distances has a higher spoilage rate and many outdoor produce farms use irrigated water and pesticides, said Chief Executive Officer David Rosenberg.
Vertical farmers tout other environmental benefits.
Elevate uses a closed-loop system to water plants automatically, collect moisture that plants emit and then re-water them with it. Such a system requires two percent of the water used on an outdoor romaine lettuce operation, Jadavji said. The company uses no pesticides.
“I think we’re solving a problem,” he said.
Where Vertical Farming and Affordable Housing Can Grow Together
Some vertical farms grow greens in old warehouses, former steel mills, or other sites set apart from the heart of cities. But a new series of projects will build multistory greenhouses directly inside affordable housing developments
Some vertical farms grow greens in old warehouses, former steel mills, or other sites set apart from the heart of cities. But a new series of projects will build multistory greenhouses directly inside affordable housing developments.
“Bringing the farm back to the city center can have a lot of benefits,” says Nona Yehia, CEO of Vertical Harvest, a company that will soon break ground on a new building in Westbrook, ME, that combines a vertical farm with affordable housing. Similar developments will follow in Chicago and in Philadelphia, where a farm-plus-housing will be built in the Tioga District, an opportunity zone.
Inside each building, the ground level will offer community access, while the greenhouse fills the second, third, and fourth floors, covering 70,000 square feet and growing around a million pounds of produce a year. (The amount of housing varies by site; in Maine, there will be only 15 units of housing, though the project will create 50 new jobs.)
In Chicago, there may be a community kitchen on the first level. In each location, residents will be able to buy fresh produce on-site; Vertical Harvest also plans to let others in the neighborhood buy greens directly from the farm. While it will sell to supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals, and other large customers, it also plans to subsidize 10% to 15% of its harvest for local food pantries and other community organizations.
“By creating a large-scale farm in a food desert, we are creating a large source of healthy, locally grown food 365 days a year,” Yehia says.
Vertical Farming ‘At a Crossroads’
Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location
Building the right business model to balance resource usage with socio-economic conditions is crucial to capturing new markets, say speakers ahead of Agri-TechE event
Image from: Fruitnet
Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location.
That is the conclusion of research by Luuk Graamans of Wageningen University & Research, a speaker at the upcoming Agri-TechE event on CEA, which takes place on 25 February.
His research shows that integration with urban energy infrastructure can make vertical farms more viable. Graamans’ research around the modelling of vertical farms shows that these systems are able to achieve higher resource use efficiencies, compared to more traditional food production, except when it comes to electricity.
Vertical farms, therefore, need to offer additional benefits to offset this increased energy use, Graamans said. One example his team has investigated is whether vertical farms could also provide heat.
“We investigated if vertical farms could provide not just food for people living in densely populated areas and also heat their homes using waste heat. We found that CEA can contribute to stabilizing the increasingly complex energy grid.”
Diversification
This balance between complex factors both within the growing environment and wider socio-economic conditions means that the rapidly growing CEA industry is beginning to diversify with different business models emerging.
Jack Farmer is CSO at vertical producer LettUs Grow, which recently launched its Drop & Grow growing units, offering a complete farming solution in a shipping container.
He believes everyone in the vertical farming space is going to hit a crossroads. “Vertical farming, with its focus on higher value and higher density crops, is effectively a subset of the broader horticultural sector,” he said.
"All the players in the vertical farming space are facing a choice – to scale vertically and try to capture as much value in that specific space, or to diversify and take their technology expertise broader.”
LettUs Grow is focussed on being the leading technology provider in containerised farming, and its smaller ‘Drop & Grow: 24’ container is mainly focussed on people entering the horticultural space.
Opportunities in retail
“This year is looking really exciting,” he said. “Supermarkets are investing to ensure a sustainable source of food production in the UK, which is what CEA provides. We’re also seeing a growth in ‘experiential’ food and retail and that’s also where we see our Drop & Grow container farm fitting in.”
Kate Hofman, CEO, GrowUp agrees. The company launched the UK’s first commercial-scale vertical farm in 2014.
“It will be really interesting to see how the foodservice world recovers after lockdown – the rough numbers are that supermarket trade was up at least 11 per cent in the last year – so retail still looks like a really good direction to go in.
“If we want to have an impact on the food system in the UK and change it for the better, we’re committed to partnering with those big retailers to help them deliver on their sustainability and values-driven goals.
“Our focus is very much as a salad grower that grows a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy. And we’re focussed on bringing down the cost of sustainable food, which means doing it at a big enough scale to gain the economies of production that are needed to be able to sell at everyday prices.”
Making the Numbers Add Up
The economics are an important part of the discussion. Recent investment in the sector has come from the Middle East, and other locations, where abundant solar power and scarce resources are driving interest in CEA. Graamans’ research has revealed a number of scenarios where CEA has a strong business case.
For the UK, CEA should be seen as a continuum from glasshouses to vertical farming, he believes. “Greenhouses can incorporate the technologies from vertical farms to increase climate control and to enhance their performance under specific climates."
It is this aspect that is grabbing the attention of conventional fresh produce growers in open field and covered crop production.
A Blended Approach
James Green, director of agriculture at G’s, thinks combining different growing methods is the way forward. “There’s a balance in all of these systems between energy costs for lighting, energy costs for cooling, costs of nutrient supply, and then transportation and the supply and demand. At the end of the day, sunshine is pretty cheap and it comes up every day.
“I think a blended approach, where you’re getting as much benefit as you can from nature but you’re supplementing it and controlling the growth conditions, is what we are aiming for, rather than the fully artificially lit ‘vertical farming’.”
Graamans, Farmer and Hofman will join a discussion with conventional vegetable producers, vertical farmers and technology providers at the Agri-TechE event ‘Controlled Environment Agriculture is growing up’ on 25 February 2021.
How This Vertical Farm Grows 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process”
Bowery Farming uses technology to prioritize accessibility and sustainability in their produce growing operations
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process” says chief science officer Henry Sztul. “Our goal is actually to have as few people walking around our plants as possible.”
Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms working to reengineer the growing process. Using a system of light and watering technology, Bowery is able to use 95 percent less water than a traditional outdoor farm, zero pesticides and chemicals, and grow food that tastes as good as anyone else’s.
Bowery Farming uses vertical farm-specific seeds that are optimized for flavor instead of insect resistance and durability. Seeds are mechanically pressed into trays of soil, and sent out into growing positions, or racks within the building that have their own lighting and watering systems. Each tray gets its own QR code so that they can be monitored and assigned a customized plan for water and light until they’re ready to be harvested.
Irving Fain, Bowery Farming’s founder and CEO contemplates the prediction from the United Nations that 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in and around cities in the next 30 years. “Figuring out ‘how do you feed and how do you provide fresh food to urban environments both more efficiently as well as more sustainably?’ is a very important question today, and an even more important question in the years to come.”
Indoor Farming Company With Backing From Ubben Aims to Solve The Problems With America’s Produce
The agriculture technology company focuses on building an indoor farm in Appalachia. The company combines agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and including access for all to nutritious food, farming, and building a homegrown food supply. The company operates a 60-acre controlled environment, agriculture facility in Morehead, Kentucky, which grows juicy beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine
Image from: AppHarvest
Company: AppHarvest Inc. (APPH)
The agriculture technology company focuses on building an indoor farm in Appalachia. The company combines agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and including access for all to nutritious food, farming, and building a homegrown food supply. The company operates a 60-acre controlled environment, agriculture facility in Morehead, Kentucky, which grows juicy beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine. It also operates a 60-acre indoor farm, outside Richmond, Kentucky, where it cultivates fresh fruits and veggies.
The company’s technological systems monitor the pollination across all 68 bays and 684 rows of plants. AppHarvest is only the fourth U.S. public Certified B corporation. A B corporation is a company that has (1) achieved a high standard of social and environmental performance as measured by the B Impact Assessment, (2) verified their scores through transparency requirements, and (3) made a legal commitment to consider all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Any company can apply to be one.
Stock Market Value: $3.3 billion ($33.26 per share)
Image from: CNBC
Activist:
Inclusive Capital
Percentage Ownership:
12.05%
Average Cost:
n/a
Activist Commentary:
Inclusive Capital Partners was formed in 2020 by ValueAct founder Jeff Ubben, to leverage capitalism and governance in pursuit of a healthy planet and the health of its inhabitants. The firm seeks long-term shareholder value through active partnership with companies whose core businesses contribute solutions to this pursuit. Inclusive is a returns driven fund with a focus on environmental and social investing.
Their primary focus is on environmental and social value creation, which leads to shareholder value creation. It is the successor to the ValueAct Spring Fund, which was launched in January 2018 and merged into Inclusive in 2020.
Inclusive is building a huge network and has accessed experts in industries such as energy, electrification, water, agriculture, food production, particulates, education and human rights. Just like ValueAct’s constructive, patient investment style, Inclusive will seek to earn the trust of managers, board members and institutional investors.
Jeff Ubben serves as the portfolio manager and Eva Zlotnicka serves as vice president. Eva has a pre-existing relationship with ValueAct through their interactions with Morgan Stanley, where she served as a VP and U.S. lead for the Global Sustainability Research Team. At Morgan Stanley, she worked to help address and raise awareness of environmental and social issues both inside and outside of corporations.
What’s Happening:
Jeff Ubben was appointed to the company’s Board in connection with the company’s business combination with Novus Capital.
Behind the Scenes:
This was initially an investment of ValueAct Spring Fund, which was converted into Inclusive Capital in 2020. Jeff Ubben first met AppHarvest founder Jonathan Webb in 2017 and has been involved with the company since the 2018 Series A round, working with Webb to put the management team together and develop a strong balance sheet. The company went public on February 1, 2021 through a $100 million SPAC transaction and a $375 million PIPE investment. Jeff Ubben is on the board where he can continue to help the company execute.
AppHarvest plans on having 12 facilities by 2025. The goal here is to make Kentucky the Netherlands of North America. The Netherlands (at 16,000 square miles) is the second largest agricultural exporter in the world, using greenhouse technology to feed two-thirds of all of Europe. In comparison, the state of Kentucky is 40,000 square miles and the US is 3.8 million square miles. AppHarvest’s motivation is first and foremost to benefit society, but if successful would have extraordinary financial returns as well.
As of 2018, 69% of fresh vine crops in the U.S. were imported, mostly from Mexico. These crops are pesticide-laden and grown using labor practices not up to U.S. standards. Moreover, they sit at the border for days and are driven 2,000+ miles to their destination, using tons of diesel fuel and resulting in less fresh produce. AppHarvest produces crops with no pesticides with greater nutrient density, and from their central location can reach 70% of the U.S. population in one day resulting in 80% less diesel fuel and much lower emissions. However, the larger environmental and economic benefit is in how the crops are grown — using 90% less water and yielding thirty times more per acre.
Moreover, AppHarvest’s resources are nature based – the greenhouse structure allows them to use 12 hours of sunlight per day and they collect the heavy Kentucky rainfall for their system resulting in a much less adverse effect on the water supply while greatly decreasing their cost of production by not having to pay for water. The greenhouse system also eliminates any weather or seasonal constraints, allowing the company to grow more efficiently 365 days per year.
While the company has no historic revenue, they just made their first delivery of beefsteak tomatoes on January 19, 2021, to customers that include Walmart, Kroger and Publix
Yasai To Establish First Zürich Vertical Farm, Strategic Partnership Announced
iFarm with Yasai AG (Switzerland) and Logiqs B.V. (Netherlands) are proud to announce the beginning of a long-term cooperation. With the launch of the first vertical farm project in Zurich, Yasai AG announced the signing of a strategic agreement with equipment and tech suppliers
Image from: Urban Ag News
iFarm with Yasai AG (Switzerland) and Logiqs B.V. (Netherlands) are proud to announce the beginning of a long-term cooperation.
With the launch of the first vertical farm project in Zurich, Yasai AG announced the signing of a strategic agreement with equipment and tech suppliers. The company involved Logiqs and iFarm as technology partners in the construction of a pilot facility, with 673 sq. m of growing area and with a design capacity of 20 tons of fresh herbs per year.
The Dutch company Logiqs will act as a supplier of automated shelving systems and grow lights. iFarm will supply the nutrient solution management system, climate control equipment, and the Growtune software platform which enables flow chart implementation and control over production conditions and processes. Going forward, the partners plan to scale up the experience of rapidly constructing an automated, compact, high-performance vertical farm, gained in a Swiss project, across the globe.
Image from: Urban Ag News
Mark Essam Zahran (co-founder Yasai):
The project will not just be limited to the testing and fine-tuning of state-of-the-art innovative solutions. We expect to lay the groundwork for large-scale industrial vertical farming in smart cities and showcase the incredible benefits of a circular economy. A plantation in the largest Swiss city, one of the most expensive cities in the world, will help us assess the economic prospects and give other European cities an example of how to produce an abundant yield without harming the planet, plants, and people.
Gert-Jan van Staalduinen (owner Logiqs):
The Swiss project opens up interesting prospects for us. We expect a fruitful collaboration with Yasai experts and a beneficial exchange of best practices with iFarm. With our vast experience in implementing automation and logistics systems on farms, we will be able to build a technologically advanced farm in the very heart of Europe.
Kirill Zelenski (CEO iFarm Europe):
We appreciate how meticulous and scrupulous Yasai is and are impressed by their passion and drive. We are just as inspired by the prospect of working with seasoned professionals from Logiqs. We hope that our software technologies will perfectly complement their hardware and the project as a whole will become a lasting benchmark for the industry and will serve as the beginning of a long-term cooperation.
Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture
Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.
Image from: Wired
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture.
Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.
“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”
The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.
Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem.
In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".
Image from: Madar Farms
Global Challenges, Local Solutions
Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.
“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”
Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.
“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”
Image from: Agritecture
Nurturing Next-Generation Talent
To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.
Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence.
“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says.
Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.
“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”
US - OHIO: Thinking And Growing Inside The Box
A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container. “We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said
A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container.
“We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said. “We use non-GMO seeds, completely free of herbicides and pesticides, so the product is really, really clean. In fact, we recommend people don’t even wash it, because there’s no reason to.”
Fifth Season FARM is unique in many ways; the 3-acre hydroponic farm is contained in a 320-square-foot freight container that sits along 120 S. Main St. in Piqua, with everything from varying varities of lettuce, to radishes, to kale and even flowers in a climate-controlled smart farm that allows Decker and his sister, Laura Jackson, to turn crops in a six- to eight-week cycle. The crops spend 18 hours in “daytime” every day, and the farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming.
“It’s tricky because we’re completely controlling the environment in here. It’s kind of a laboratory more than a farm,” Decker said. “I think there’s about 50 of them around the world right now. These are really international, and they’re perfect for places that are food deserts where they can’t grow food because of climate or other reasons. It gives them a way to grow food in the middle of nowhere.”
Image from: Sidney Daily News
Decker and Jackson, along with their brother Bill Decker, also do traditional farming and grow corn, wheat and soybeans, but Decker said they were looking for a new venture that would help lead them to a healthier lifestyle and learn something new.
“Just with the whole local food movement becoming more and more important and food traceability, we just thought it would be a great thing to bring to our community to help everyone have a healthier lifestyle,” Decker said. “People love food that’s grown right in their hometown and the shelf-life on it, when you get it home, is remarkable. It’ll keep for two weeks.”
Image from: AgFunder News
Currently, Decker and Jackson are growing a half-dozen variety of specialty lettuces that include arugula, butterhead and romaine, as well as specialty greens like kale and Swiss chard, and even radishes and flowers. They received their freight container at the end of July and set up their indoor farm over two weeks; while the farm has been in operation for less than six months, Decker says that they’re growing beautiful product.
They have also started growing micro-greens, said Decker. Micro-greens are immature plants which are 1 to 3 inches tall and are in a 5-inch by 5-inch container.
“People will use them as garnishments and in smoothies,” said Decker. “Since they are immature plants, they have an intense flavor.”
Decker said they are growing wheat germ, broccoli and spicy salad mixes.
They’ve also started moving forward with sales and marketing. Fifth Season FARM has partnered with the Miami County Locally Grown Virtual Market to sell their products to the community. They also take orders through their website, customers can opt to pick up their orders between 4 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, or Decker and Jackson will deliver products up to five miles from the farm. Decker said that Fifth Season FARM is also in discussions with three restaurants in the area about including their specialty greens on their menus.
Decker said they also plan to attend the Sidney Farmers Market when it opens for the spring/summer season.
“We’re really just getting going,” Decker said. “While we were learning to grow products, we didn’t want to overcommit to a restaurant or grocery store before we knew we could really grow beautiful product, so we’ve been donating product every week to the food pantry at the Presbyterian Church. It feels good to plant the seeds and watch them grow, and it feels good to make sure that people who aren’t getting the proper nutrition are getting some.”
Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas for Addressing Food Insecurity
Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure
Image from: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure.
At the "Town Hall on the Future of Food in New York City" -- hosted by Hunter College in partnership with City Harvest, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Food Bank for NYC, Hunger Free America, and other organizations, and moderated by NY1 anchor Errol Louis -- the candidates discussed the city's urgent need to manage rampant hunger during the pandemic and center it in the recovery effort. But the discussion also focused on the pre-existing problems of food insecurity, inequitable access to nutritious meals, and inefficiencies and lack of sustainability in the city's food use.
The participants, who were selected based on their polling and fundraising standings among a field of dozens of candidates, included Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan, former city sanitation commissioner and "covid food czar" Kathryn Garcia, former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire, former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, former city veterans' services commissioner Loree Sutton, city Comptroller Scott Stringer, small business owner Joycelyn Taylor, and Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney and former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Louis pushed them to focus on how they would bring anti-hunger initiatives to scale to address the food crisis compounded by the pandemic.
Programs to help feed New Yorkers have often missed the mark, failing to meet adequate health standards and leaving many New Yorkers out entirely. A 2017 study from the Robin Hood Poverty Tracker found 1 in 4 eligible food stamp, or SNAP, recipients -- 700,000 New York City residents -- were not enrolled in the program, less than the statewide participation rate of 93 percent the same year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In September, the Poverty Tracker reporter 1.7 million New Yorkers were getting food stamps, over 200,000 more than last February. During roughly the same period the percentage of food stamp recipients who also used a food pantry doubled, from 27 percent of enrollees to 60 percent.
Nearly all candidates agreed on the need to increase SNAP benefits, and improve enrollment in the program; expand community gardens and urban agriculture; and improve access to nutritious food throughout communities and in institutional settings like schools and food pantries. There was also broad consensus around creating a more unified food procurement and distribution system in New York City by strengthening the Mayor's Office of Food Policy. Multiple candidates highlighted the frequent lack of coordination among the myriad city agencies that provide food as part of their services.
"One of the reasons why I needed to step in is that the Mayor's Office of Food Policy is incredibly understaffed," said Garcia, who managed the city's emergency food response last summer before leaving the de Blasio administration last fall and launching her campaign to succeed him.
"[Food Policy Director] Kate McKenzie does an amazing job but she doesn't have procurement authority, she doesn't have logistical authority...one of the clear things is how we approach food is very siloed, very fragmented," Garcia said, noting the separate food procurement activities of the Department of Education, Department of Correction, and senior centers. Garcia says the city provided 1 million meals a day and shored up food pantries last summer under her leadership. (Shortly after the forum, Garcia released a multi-pronged platform to fight food insecurity with an emphasis on enrolling more New Yorkers in SNAP and expanding what the benefits would cover.)
Adams, who repeatedly discussed the need for nutritious food, criticized the nutritional value of many of the government-provided or -supported food services, including Garcia’s covid effort, and said increasing the size of the Mayor's Office of Food Policy would have a limited impact if the city did not also incorporate the new perspectives from food-access "visionaries."
"They don't share the values," Adams said of the city's food-oriented bureaucrats, historically. "I am amazed at the roadblocks, that organizations like Rockaway Youth Task Force are not able to scale," he said during a segment of the conversation on urban agriculture programs.
Some of the candidates saw the city's food dilemmas rooted in job scarcity and low wages and frequently discussed the importance of building food policy into the city's economic recovery.
"We solve none of this if we don't recognize that fundamentally what is broken and why 30% of our people were not eating through the month before covid is because the rent was too damn high and people were choosing to pay rent instead of buying groceries," Wiley said, adding, "at the end of the day it is about the city's ability to generate new jobs." Wiley has announced a plan as mayor to create 100,000 jobs through a $10 billion capital investment and cited it as an example of how she would leverage existing city resources to bring her approach to scale.
"Fundamentally, food insecurity is about income and it is about the fact that we do not intentionally ensure that our young people have pathways to careers and are prepared for the careers of the 21st Century," said Garcia.
The conversation of workforce development dovetailed with another on building an urban agrarian economy in New York to create good jobs and ensure both sustainable and equitable food access for city residents.
"We need to also think about aligning not just food policy, but the resilience office that exists right now to work more in tandem with each other because we know that food justice is also climate justice," said Morales, who was the executive director of Phipps Neighborhoods in the South Bronx, a social services provider. As mayor, Morales said she would invest $25 million to food innovation and sustainability programs in communities of color.
Multiple candidates, including Stringer, Donovan, and Adams wanted to see a greater emphasis on local and regional food procurement. "If I'm mayor, I really want to create a Mayor's Office of Food Markets because we've got to link farming with communities and for a farm-to-table policy that brings the purchasing power of this city regionally, upstate, downstate, and create those relationships," Stringer said. "Farmers markets should be everywhere."
Image from: Square Roots
"There is huge potential to grow, so to speak, the power of locally-grown produce," said Donovan, who was the city’s housing commissioner under Mayor Bloomberg before spending all eight years in the Obama presidential cabinet. "We need innovative approaches to ensure we are using every inch of available space that we can." Like other candidates, he expressed support for ideas like more community gardens and vertical agriculture. Donovan also repeatedly stressed the need to support struggling restaurants and incorporate them into the city's food programs as well as its economic recovery.
While supportive of partnerships with upstate and Long Island counties, Garcia took issue with the notion that New York could achieve a sustainable food market locally. "If we want fresh, healthy food day in and day out, we're not harvesting today in this region, we are going to have to bring it in," she said following Donovan's comments. "We need to make sure the systems go beyond just this region so that we can still be getting lettuce even though it's February."
"That should not hold us back from starting to have a robust agrarian economy in New York City," Adams countered, echoing Donovan's statements about the importance of life sciences in city schools and connecting lessons about food production to healthy eating.
When asked directly whether they would use the city's power of eminent domain to force the sale of private land for the city to use, most candidates raised their hands affirmatively. Adams expressed his dissent, noting that the many existing city resources that he said are being wasted or under-utilized should be tapped before forcing land sales. (Others also raised the importance of better using available land, with Stringer naming a report he issued as comptroller on the number of vacant city-owned lots that could be used to develop housing and noting that many lots could also be used for community gardens.)
McGuire, who recently stepped down from one of the biggest jobs on Wall Street to run for mayor, also criticized the mismanagement of city resources and cautioned on the costs to the city that eminent domain could pose. "It gets expensive so you have to figure out when you exercise eminent domain at market rates who is going to pay for it," he said.
Equity was an overriding theme in a number of areas of the food policy discussion, from eradicating food deserts to ensuring healthy options in schools and pantries.
"I think we do have a moral obligation to ensure that every resident of the city has those basic needs of food and housing," said Taylor, who created the nonprofit NYC WMBE Alliance, according to her website. "We have to make sure that when we look at the budget we look things that are 'nice to have' and things that are 'needs to have,' and if it means that we have to reallocate funds from the things that are nice to have to the needs, then that's what I would do."
"We need to stop leaving communities out of the co-creation process," said Morales, who stressed participation of food advocacy groups.
Wiley and Taylor also discussed the need for community participation in the form of locally-based food councils to inform nutrition, per Wiley, and more active mayoral outposts in each borough, per Taylor. Both also discussed the importance of collecting more targeted data to better determine the outcomes of food programs. Other candidates outlined plans or past work to incorporate cultural sensitivity into food access, including then-Manhattan Borough President Stringer's 2008 "Go Green East Harlem Cookbook" and Garcia's discussion of halal and kosher options in meal services, something others mentioned as well.
The candidates agreed that compounded structural problems of food deserts and the reliance of low-income communities on the city's various food programs exacerbate malnutrition and health outcomes, but not all offered the same solution.
"Today food deserts are such that many of our people don't have access to healthy food. They have access to those institutions that provide food that is pretty low on the nutrition scale," McGuire said. He laid out a more corporate-friendly view of the path forward, that involved rezoning to allow big supermarket chains, hiring gig workers to deliver meals to seniors, and bringing refrigeration resources to bodegas in order to better store fresh produce.
As is often the case, Morales was at the other end of the spectrum, saying she supports community land trusts to create both better access to fresh produce and greater "food sovereignty" in poor communities. Sutton said the solution was to leverage public-private partnerships.
"It's one thing to talk about all these ideas, but in the same breath to disdain, disparage and disrespect the top 1 percent of New Yorkers who bring in nearly 40 percent of our tax base or reject and shun real estate as one example, as a number of my fellow candidate have during this campaign," said Sutton, a former Army psychiatrist who led de Blasio's Department of Veterans' Services. "We are absolutely shutting down those pathways to partnership and prosperity."